Consumers give economy a lift

A flurry of data issued Thursday sketched a brightening view of the U.S. economy in the final days before a presidential election that will pivot on the strength of the recovery.

Cheaper gas, rising home prices and lower unemployment have given consumers the confidence to spend more. And retailers, auto dealers and manufacturers are benefiting.

At the same time, many employers remain anxious about the economy, which is why only modest hiring gains are forecast for today’s jobs report for October. It will be the last major report on the economy before Election Day.

Both presidential candidates pressed their arguments Thursday for why President Barack Obama’s economic stewardship should or should not earn him another four-year term. Campaigning in Roanoke, Va., Mitt Romney argued that under Obama, household incomes have fallen behind inflation and poverty has worsened.

Obama, in a speech in Green Bay, Wis., contended that Romney’s proposals are the same “top-down policies that crashed our economy.” The president said his own economic approach was similar to Bill Clinton’s in the 1990s, when the U.S. economy generated tens of millions of jobs and incomes surged.

Economists think today’s jobs report will show that the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent in October from 7.8 percent in September. Coming so close to the election, though, the most recent economic figures aren’t expected to alter the outcome. Few voters are thought to still be undecided.

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